Worth
by Astrid Goes For A Spin
Summary: "Mildew wants all our dragons caged. I don't know about you, but that's NOT okay with me."


**YEAH! Internal triumph: first fanfiction up for the show. :) Okay, so I wrote this because my TV conked out right in the middle so I missed all the Hiccup-Toothless goodness about preventing the dragons from being caged. All I knew is "Toothless is in a cage. Oh, my god. I'd have thought Hiccup would DIE before letting that happen!" So I had to rectify the plot hole. Luckily, this wonderful person: ONELLI541 on Youtube put up the episode and I could fit this together. XD **

**Which, admittedly, made me VERY happy. XD**

* * *

"_Enough,_ Hiccup. The dragons have done enough damage. By tonight, I want every one of them _caged._"

This could not be happening. My mouth dropped open and my stomach dropped with it until I felt lightheaded, untethered. A lot like what had happened when Toothless left.

No way I was letting that happen again. He'd seen enough bars, and chains, and cages…besides, doesn't my dad understand that without me, Toothless will die?

"Tcha," spit Mildew, coming up beside me. "You can't just cage these dragons. You need to send them away now!"

Behind us, a mob of Vikings agree, shouting, waving their fists. I don't think I've ever felt so sick – because it feels remarkably like _betrayal._

"All right!" Dad waves his arms. "We'll-" He's not even _looking _at me when he hesitates. "We'll cage them tonight, and in the morning, Hiccup will send them off the island."

Toothless pads up from behind, poking his nose into me. I'm protecting his head, but I have to send him away to do it? In cages? How could it have possibly digressed – to _this?_ I touch Toothless almost gingerly, wondering if I'm even capable to be stubborn enough to touch him again.

I can't let this happen.

My dad has one more thing to say. "I'm sorry son." Then he turns and continues with the stupid fish. If anyone had actually listened to _me_… maybe we'd have actually had the dragons' help in getting food, doing work…

Toothless glances up at me from under my arm, and I press my lips together, eyes narrowing. I w_on't_ let this happen.

.

"I can't _believe _we have to _send them away_." Snotlout gestures as I walk by, toward a remarkably depressed table in the middle of the Mead Hall.

"It's gonna be _weird_…" Dispiritedly, Astrid stirs her soup, her voice as empty as I feel. "I got _used_ to Stormfly's face being the first thing I see every morning."

Sadly, Fishlegs says, "Every night before I went to sleep, Meatlug would lick my feet."

The twins glace at each other sidelong, and if I wasn't so miserable, I'd have probably smirked or something.

"Who's gonna do that now?" cries Fishlegs, throwing himself onto the table.

"I volunteer Tuffnut." Ruff elbows him, but more gently than usual. He doesn't even have the anger or energy to fight. "Whatever." It's almost like they're all in a daze. Except me. I can still think clearly, even if I still feel like I'm floating. "What time should I be there?"

Astrid pushes herself up. "C'mon guys, let's get this over with."

"This is the worst day of my life," moans Fishlegs.

_Not mine._ But truthfully, I have no clever way to save Toothless… not from this.

"We're never going to see our dragons again!" wails Fish, but everything seems to come to me through a haze. As they group together, walking out of the hall, I don't respond, getting up and going the opposite direction, more toward the fire.

"We _can't_ let that happen." I'm not loud, so I don't know if I'm talking to them, or me. I crouch next to Toothless, resting a hand on his side like I've done thousands and thousands of times. "Toothless is the best friend I've ever had."

"Oh!" I cringe. It's all his fault. Mildew. Everything. I'm going to lose everything I have, everything I already gave up once trying to protect Toothless and his head, just because of some crotchety old man who hates me. "I'm gonna miss you _so_ much."

Instinctively, I stand to be at an advantage, even though Mildew's at least a foot taller than me.

"You know what your mistake was?" He asks carelessly. "Thinkin' dragons could be _trained! _A dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do." Is he imitating me? "It's their nature."

Somewhere along the lines of this confrontation, my teeth grit themselves, my lips pressing together. My eyelids narrow, wanting to flicker closed and shut out the world for my concentration.

"And nature always wins." My eyebrows drop into a heavy frown as he turns and goes away, not like he's trying to ruin my entire life or anything.

I didn't notice Toothless' creeping up, raising his head, wings, readying to protect me, until his growl permeates the air around me. For the first time in months, he shows his teeth.

I'm too far within myself to notice much when two Vikings push open the doors, letting a draft of late winter wind blow in, coincidentally, blowing the fire out.

It grows dark, and I turn as Toothless' presence disappears from my side. He stands briefly on two legs, just to get high enough to spit a tiny bolt of fire into the empty pit, setting the embers ablaze.

"Oh." Looking pleased, a Viking woman says to him, "Thank you, Toothless."

Things are finally starting to piece together. "You know what…" My eyebrows shoot up. "Mildew's absolutely right!"

I take off running. "Come on, Bud!"

Looking a lot like a predator at the mention of my crazy idea, Toothless snorts and pounces after me.

.

I was able to follow them because of the torches, and because, as Vikings, they're pretty much predictable. We catch up with them just as the line of sad, limp Vikings draw near each other in front of the gate. Time is running out – once the gate slams shut, they'll be gone.

"Don't close it!"

Honestly, I don't understand how my voice managed to reach them. But it did, way ahead of us, and we swoop down silently, invisibly in the night right into their midst.

Their eyes follow us, especially Astrid. I can imagine the look on her face right now: cold, calculating. I barely wait for Toothless to land before I jump off and dash to the control, even though the sound of it is making me nauseous.

Frantically, I throw my entire body weight into the lever, stopping the grate just as it passes by their faces. Once I'm sure it'll keep going upward, I step in front of the cage. "You're _not_ locking them up."

"What happened?" Astrid comes forward, sounding hopeful. "Did you change your father's mind?" I don't have a chance to say anything, but Astrid leans back, hand on hip. "Or are we _going behind his back again_."

"Uh…one of those." Behind me, I can hear good sounds – the dragons cautiously making their way toward me. Out of the pit-like cage… "Look. The dragons are gonna do…" I gain momentum. "What they're gonna do. It's their nature." I gesture behind me. "We just need to learn how to _use _it!"

No one seems particularly impressed – but their dragons are free, and all of them look a little happier.

.

"Snotlout!" I shout, pointing to Mulch and Bucket's boat. "Scare us up some dinner!" Hookfang dives gracefully (since when are Monstrous Nightmares "graceful"?) into the water.

"Dragon attack!" One of them shouts, and both cover their heads.

But by following the line of white water, I see Snotlout steering his dragon underwater, just in time to pull away from the boat, leaving the fish wriggling in the formerly empty nets.

"Hey! Thanks, dragon!"

"That's right!" Yells Snotlout in triumph. "That just happened!"

.

"C'mon, follow me," I order, leading Stormfly and Meatlug (not to mention a hoard of other Gronkles) toward the far side of the island – where we send people who aren't fit to live with.

Namely, Mildew.

He's hoeing in a defeated sort of way, glaring at his empty cabbage patch. "Afternoon, Mildew!" Astrid's got that look in her eyes – the scary one. She swoops down close to the ground, Stormfly's tail spikes plowing through the tough Berk soil.

I follow, holding a bag of seed out next to Toothless' wings, which spreads itself in the newly made furrow.

He coughs, looking nasty. I pull up in front of him. "Three o' clock!" I grin. "Time for the fertilizer."

"Eh?" He turns sourly, just in time to see Fishlegs squeal from the top of a whole flock of dragons, "Okay, Meatlug! Let 'er rip!"

Feeling a lot more triumphant than usual, I call down, "Smile, Mildew! We just saved you three months of work!"

.

A lot of things aren't as terrifying as a fully grown Hideous Zippleback equipped with Thorston twins. Especially to boar.

Knocking down that many trees wasn't exactly in my plan, but, then again, it's the Thorston twins. You can only hope for so much.

One of those is using exploding fire to start them running – you know, back to the village, where they escaped from.

They're all running at breakneck speed, and Toothless and I follow from a distance, and a height. Just when they need to turn, Toothless does one of those firework things that explodes before it even reaches the livestock – but it does what it's meant to do: turn them the other way.

Following, I make sure they go inside the barn, hearing someone whoop in the background. But I know it's all about to come apart when Gobber's the one to close the door.

Free from the various tasks I left them to, the others land around the barn, _with_ their dragons. "That was awesome!" Fishlegs has never looked happier.

"How did you know that was gonna work?" Astrid looks at me, actually curious, sounding awed. She should be – after all, by now the dragons would have been gods-know-where and we'd have never seen them again.

"Because," I hop off Toothless. "They're dragons." I smile. "And they're gonna do what dragons do. We just have to work with them and not against them."

Toothless wriggles his head in pleasure. "You know who we should actually be thanking," I say lightly, rubbing Toothless' neck.

"There they are," spits the very man in question. "Stoick." I'm beginning to realize that I just can't look nice when Mildew's around – I always feel pretty antagonistic, too. "Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me."

Does no one else realize what he's doing? He's manipulating the chief. My father. He's turning the village against me.

"No," Dad agrees. "This is not what I asked for." At this point, I really don't care.

_Toothless is not going to be locked up, __**ever**__ again._

.

"If I'm doing it, you're doing it."

"No." I grit my teeth as hard as I could, praying I can be stubborn. Disobeying is one thing, Astrid is another. "Toothless is _never_ going behind bars or wrapped in chains, or tethered, or – or – or _anything_ ever again."

Astrid punches me in the shoulder. "We're Vikings! You don't know _what's _going to happen when your dad and Gobber get down here! They saw us doing stuff we shouldn't've. So now the best thing to do is keep the dragons there while they punish us."

"No."

"Yes!" She stomps a foot in frustration. "They're going to be safe in there, Hiccup! It's not like last time. We're _protecting_ them from the others! Just until you – we – manage to talk our way out!"

"No."

"Yes!" She grabs Stormfly by one of her horns. "I'm taking my dragon in, and you _better_ get yours."

Time is running out, and I _am not going to put Toothless in there._ But Toothless, however, apparently seems to understand what's going on, that it would placate my dad.

"He can't always be sated, Bud," I mutter, hands spread over his thick neck. How come no one ever understands this? Sure, I'm the son of the chief, but I'm sure there are other people who aren't afraid of him. What happened to bullheaded Viking stubbornness? "You can't go back in there!" The other teens are looking at him out of the corner of their eyes, and I cross my arms. "No!" My whole face twists. "_Never. Again." _

Toothless flicks an ear, nudges my face toward the front of the ring, and brushes past me so fast I hardly even see him. All around the top of the ring, Vikings are silent, but I can feel them all urging the dragons, especially mine, into the cages. How come none of them care now? They were glad enough for me, for dragons, at Snoggletog. All of them missed them, and now they're a menace. Even though no one's said it yet – I'm a menace. The gate rolls down with a sickening noise of chain on wood and clunks shut.

When I look back, Toothless' dark coloring makes him almost indistinguishable in the shadows, especially behind all the bright-colored dragons.

I'm standing at the front, naturally, when the entrance gate makes the sick noise again, bringing Gobber and Dad into view.

"Oh no," whimpers Fishlegs, looking nervous. "What's Stoick gonna do to us?"

"I'm too pretty for jail," moans Ruffnut.

"Heh." It's like last night. They're _all_ empty inside. Just like me. "Where'd you hear that?"

I, on the other hand, am still cringing from the noise of the dragons. Not like they're being noisy, but they _should_ have been, you know? They're dragons. They're too quiet, almost hung up with suspense, nervous for them.

Toothless is nervous for _me_. How could he seriously give up his freedom, no matter how '_brief'_ for me not getting in trouble with my dad? It wasn't worth it. One more fight with Dad wasn't worth his freedom.

Speaking of Dad, for once, he seems a lot calmer than Gobber. Gobber's face is all scrunched up as they walk into the ring, swinging his hammer for a hand in a somewhat threatening way.

"You disobeyed my orders." Now my dad is scowling just as fiercely. Shoulda known it would show up eventually. "And there _will_ be consequences."

I'm just feeling _miserable _that point, and Astrid's nasty little whisper doesn't help very much: "I _told you_ we were gonna get in trouble." She huffs, disgusted, and mutters out of the corner of her mouth, "You never listen to me!"

When have I ever listened to _anyone?_ What is wrong with everyone?

Closing my eyes, I step forward. "Dad, if _anyone's _going to get in trouble it should be me." I gesture to my chest, barely taking in Snotlout's shock, Astrid's steely disapproval. I can even feel Toothless' reaction, what he'd do, if I could see him. A curious flip of an ear plate, a widening of his pupils. Wanting to know why I did what I did.

Vikings cover for each other, but usually it was a every man for himself scenario. No one does what I was doing. Ever.

_Because that's a first…_

"No, you all had a hand in this." Dad walks proudly in front of us, for once focusing his fury on more than me. "You took over this place without askin'. Yeh released the dragons against _my_ wishes. Things are goin' to change around here." He waves his arms. "That's why-"

Gobber leaps in front of him. "You're getting a dragon training academy!"

"Gobber!" Dad whacks him on the arm. "I wanted to tell them!"

The mood considerably lightens, even mine. _I'm sorry, Bud. Locked you up for nothing. _

I even manage to smile, albeit a little weakly, turning to Astrid in wonderment.

"I'm sorry," concedes Gobber. "You're right. Go 'head."

"Well, you told most of it!"

"You can tell them the part about how proud you are of them!"

"Gobber!"

_Proud…Dad? Me? _Something definitely is _not_ adding up, but as long as I get Toothless back… I smirk. Not that Toothless can't actually get out by himself.

Growling, Dad pushes Gobber out of the way and turns back to us. "Hiccup… well, what he said."

Everyone else's energy is pouring into me, lifting me again. They're happy, electrified, and I can feel it on either side of me. But I'm being lifted so high I'm disconnected from my feelings again – confusion, sadness, frustration.

Disbelief…

"You've _all_ made me proud."

_One point for Hiccup's bullheaded Viking stubbornness…_

He walks to the lever. "This dragon training academy-" He yanks at the lever. "Is for you."

The top lifts, and the sides swing open, leaving the dragons free.

"Hookfang!" Snotlout jumps forward, being intercepted by his dragon picking him up by the collar.

"Oh, Stormfly!" Astrid actually sounds close to tears, for her. "I missed you so much!"

_Missed? How can they miss them – they've only been in there two or three minutes._

All the noise fades into the background, though, as Toothless approaches from the back, looking quite pleased with himself. "Hey, Bud." I hug his whole head, and we both close our eyes, happy to be together. I rub the skin underneath the two middle headfins, and he makes a little noise of contentment.

_Maybe it was worth it…after all._

"Now, all you have to do is train 'em."

I grin. "_Not_ a problem, Dad. After all, I've got him."

"Hem, hem?" But Astrid's smiling, too.

"And – them."

And by the next morning, when Toothless, Astrid and I stand side by side at the entrance to the Kill Ring, I've made my descision.

After all, there's a carving of a Night Fury hanging over the door, complete with red tailfin and all.

"Berk Dragon Academy. I like the sound of that." Predictably, Astrid slugs me in the shoulder.

_Yeah,_ _not that worth it. I'da figured something out._

Because hey – everyone _lived._


End file.
